The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 553 : KISSES AND SECRETS (3)

When he opened his eyes, Victor couldn’t help but gasp in admiration as he found himself in what looked like a gazebo built on the top of a mountain, surrounded by all kinds of bright and heavily colored scenery that appeared as if it came straight out of an oil painting.

He was sitting on a stone chair at a stone table with his opponent, sitting right opposite him. Between them, there was a strange hexagonal board similar to that of chess with strange-looking pieces, 20 in total.

“At last a civil game!” Victor said, facing his opponent who, as expected, was none other than Caspian, who looked a bit lost.

CASPIAN DRAKE

LEVEL: 115

CLASS: Crown Shaman, SS

ABNORMAL STATUS :

BLESSING OF THE FATE LORD :

AUTHORITY: 13

Strength: 312

Agility: 289

Intelligence: 288

Luck: 27

Charm: 47

Order: 999

SKILLS :

True Branding, SSS

Cursed Resurrection, SSS

Curse Slave, SS(39/44)

Dark Curse, S

Dark Curtain, S

Indestructible Shield, S (3/3)

Heal, A

Lying, A

Fireball, A

Summoning, A

Wind Slash, A

Sword Arts, A

Spear Arts, A

Charm Resistance, A

Shamanic Ritual, A

Knife Arts, B

Array Arts, B

Dance, B

Fist Arts, B

Calculations, B

Insta-Death Resistance, C

Fire Resistance, C

Shock Resistance, C

Frost Resistance, C

Cannibalism, C

Cooking, C

Minor Appraisal, D

Piano, D

Kissing, E

Rape, E

Painting, E

Survival, F

Curse Resistance, F

A*al Inercourse, F

BLOODLINE:

HEAVENLY BLOOD, X (1%)

EQUIPMENT:

HEAVENLY SOLDIER SILK ARMOR, S

HIGHER STORAGE RING, AAA

PROTECTION TALISMAN, S

HEAVENLY SECT FIRST DISCIPLE TOKEN. A

LAST LIGHT RING, F

FATE STATUS :

FATE’S POWER: SS+

SUMMARY (?SCION?)

DEFINED FATE: RULE THE WORLD

”> DESTINY LIST < 10 ORDER POINTS TO UNVEIL>

Eyeing Caspian’s status, Victor continued his introduction. “This emperor’s name is Vic Volt; you may call this seat your majesty or your…”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP! I DON’T CARE WHO YOU ARE….” Caspian, who was a bit absent-minded, exploded as he finally noticed his opponent. He was still shocked about his previous battle. Sure he won, but… That other Caspian… Who was he, and how did the battle turn from a wrestling match into a bedroom scene… He knew the answer to why. It was that damn curse. But why did it activate again? Did that imposter have anything to do with Nova? Doubt began to fill his heart as he considered a very absurd possibility…. If… Just if that Nova was a fake then….. NO! IMPOSSIBLE…. BUT….

“Damn it… No need to be so defensive…. What’s wrong with you?” Victor asked, feeling a bit strange watching Caspian’s livid face that kept changing color.

“NOT YOUR DAMN BUSINESS…”

“THIS SEAT IS DAMNING THIS SEAT’S BUSINESS…. This emperor was just saying hi, thinking that as fellow royalty we should understand each other… Did someone f*ck you in the wrong place or something?” he asked with a frown.

“FUCK YOU! Just read the damn rules and letʼs just get done with this!” Caspian spat back. No one f*cked him in the wrong place; he was the one who was doing all the f*cking…Wait, the other was him… So did he technically fuck himself in the wrong place? DAMN IT!

“Rules?…. Oh, we see now… No need to be angry with this seat! And please try to use the right pronoun... It is a matter of mutual respect!” Victor began to mumble. He felt that Caspian’s reaction might have something to do with Tom… He already confirmed that the latter was here, and…

Wait…

Victor quickly remembered that Tom was disguised as Caspian…. Adding things up, he couldn’t help gasping for a moment before quickly hiding his expression to take a look at the match rules that spread in front of him. His previous one didn’t have those…

AS A GENTLEMAN, YOU NEED TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS IN A GENTLEMANLY WAY.

THE ROYAL GAME OF AHAROST IS BUILT JUST FOR THAT!

“Let’s start…” Caspian said, deciding to think about useless things once this match was over.

Victor, looking at the board, frowned. How can this game be played? It was composed of a 10-cell-wide hexagonal board that had 20 differently shaped pieces for each player. His were gold; Caspian’s were black. The pieces were abstractly carved in the shapes of animals. Some he could tell, like the elephant and the elven horse; others were completely unknown to him. “Why don’t you start instead,” he said nervously. All he needed to do was to mirror Caspian and figure things out on his own, right?

“You can’t do that! You are the Gold; it is your turn!” Caspian frowned and spat with annoyance. “Damn noob, the system should have instilled its rules in your mind already!” he said, suspecting that his opponent didn’t realize that they should know the rules!

“Ahh… Of course this seat knows that….” Victor lied as he secretly began to sweat like crazy. WHAT? What system? WHEN? No… Could it be… The memory manipulation skill from earlier was meant to teach him the rules?

SO FAST, THINKING IT WAS LIKE THAT ROUND WITH LILT! DAM IT! HE WAS SCREWED!”> DAMN IT! HE PRESSED SO FAST, THINKING IT WAS LIKE THAT ROUND WITH LILT! DAM IT! HE WAS SCREWED!

ROYALLY SCREWED!

Any other time, Victor would have laughed at the idea of Vic Vault being royally screwed, but he couldn’t…. He was in deep shit.

Should he try a random move?

No… impossible; that might be considered cheating by the system! He couldn’t make sure…

Damn it… Was the damn tournament system targeting him or something, or was this just some bad luck?

Should he ask Caspian for help explaining the rules? He wondered…. Looking at the latterʼs grumpy face, probably not.

Should he just surrender?

No way! One of his plans was built on taking down Caspian… It should have been done in a battle butt….

Wait…. Maybe he will be able to get far more than he first hoped for. All he needed was some old good craftiness!

“Come on, what are you waiting for?” Caspian, having had enough, asked.

“This emperor is still considering his next move…” Victor said. Thankfully, from the sun’s position he could tell it was more than 6 hours till sunset, so he had the time to play things slowly.

“Considering your move?” Caspian frowned, looking at the board. Although he had just learnt the game, he could see only 5 ways to open a game. Did it need all that thinking?

“This emperor likes to take things slowly…. Why don’t we have a drink… The poetic atmosphere here calls for that!” Victor said, taking two golden cups and an old wine jar.

“Seriously?” Caspian asked. What’s wrong with this guy, and who the hell did he keep calling himself ‘THIS EMPEROR’? Is he some idiot who made his way here by some chance?

“That’s how this game should be played… At least thatʼs how we used to do it in this seat’s hometown!” Victor explained as he poured two cups, one for him and the other he pushed toward Caspian.

“I am not drinking that…” Caspian said with a frown. This situation was getting absurd.

“Scared this seat will poison you?” Victor asked as he sipped from his cup. “Even if this seat wanted to, we shouldn’t be able to…”

“Shouldn’t?” Caspian frowned hearing him, then he tried it. Taking a poisonous dagger from his ring… He failed. The moment he thought of directly harming Vic, his body stopped responding, with a small notification ‘FORBIDDEN ACTION’ appearing to the side of his vision. He thought of trying something else… To use his skill to curse Vic’s cup…. The result was the same; the skill failed and that ‘FORBIDDEN ACTION’ appeared again!

“Convinced?” Vic asked as he sipped from his drink.

Caspian frowned; Yup, he was convinced, but he was not going to play along with that guy. He was considering whether throwing the cup at that Vic guy would be considered an attack when he smelled it…

The smell was coming from the cup… “This…”

“It comes from an elven world called Ismeralia…. This emperor found it when looting some prince’s palace!” Victor said. This wine truly came from Macil’s palace back then.

Caspian swallowed. He knew this wine… The Sun Elves’ royal wine! He drank it once, not in this world, but when he was back in his hometown in the abyss. It was a part of the loot his grandfather brought from that world they pillaged…. He was only allowed a small portion back then because he was a minor, and to tell the truth, it was one of the best things he ever drank!

“Let me give it a try…” Completely not realizing that his own desires were getting the better of him due to the strange wine aroma in the air, Caspian reached and took a sip. YES! It felt a bit diluted, but he could have remembered wrong, as it was definitely the same wine! “You are from that fallen world?” he asked, finally getting curious about Vic’s origin.

“Fallen world?”

“Isermalia…” Caspian said as he emptied his cup without noticing.

“No way, that shithole is only fit for lowly beings…” Victor shook his head as he reached over, filling Caspian’s cup again. Ignoring the system’s ‘FORBIDDEN ACTION’ notices flashing all around him, nearly flooding his vision. “This seat comes from a place too far from here… I was banished to this world to fulfill an old prophecy… “ he sighed. “My friend, you also hold a similar mission, if I am not mistaken!”

“What do you mean?” Caspian, although under the wine’s effect, was not completely lost.

“Simple…” Victor smirked as he activated his bloodline, allowing a wisp of his demonic bloodline to slip.

“You…”

“Shush…. I told you, we are the same…” Victor smiled. “… I must say, it feels a bit nostalgic to meet a civil brother from home here… The last guy I met was an absolute brute with a butt fetish…”

“Yeah… You are, don’t say… From the central continent?” Caspian asked.

“Yup… It had been a long time since I had been there, though…” Victor sighed in a sad voice. What central continent? Did the Abyss, the land of the demons, have continents? He was not sure.

“Yeah, I miss my hometown too… Though this place is much better, at least I don’t have to fight over livestock with the others here!” Caspian sighed, letting his real thoughts slip as he let his guard down a bit.

“Sadly, we can only enjoy this for so long… Soon, this place will no longer be only our own!” Victor sighed.

“It can’t be helped; the mission is above everything… Well, if we succeed and rig the Destiny dungeon, we would definitely be rewarded handsomely… We would no longer need to care about such a poor place!” Caspian said.

“I wish I could have your confidence… We might as well lose everything…” Victor said. He was not sure what this Destiny dungeon was, but he decided to keep the conversation around it.

“Well… I got a big backer… That’s all I can say!” Caspian chuckled.

“A local?”

“Yup!”

“Brother… You should never trust those lowly humans…”

“Don’t worry, this guy is one of us!” Caspian said. “He had been manipulating many pieces behind the scenes for ages! And although he represents other parties, as long as this world loses its sovereignty, we will be able to flip the situation at any time!”

“Oh!” Victor frowned. The world losing its sovereignty? Did that mean the Reckoning? But that happened a few years after the tournament.

“Don’t worry… His plan is perfect!”

“Well, as long as you are in it, brother, it would definitely succeed!” Victor chuckled. “Just to make sure we don’t cross each other’s paths and ruin it for each other, care to tell me your part?”

“Sure…. Sadly… I… I don’t remember…” Caspian scratched the back of his head.

“Don’t remember?”

“Yes, my backer has this strange skill that makes people not only forget things, but also forget their own identity…” Caspian sighed. “I should remember when the Destiny Dungeon began!”

Forget things? Oblivion lord? Victor frowned secretly. “What a bummer,” he sighed.

“Yeah… I feel the same, but when that guy contacted my clan back then, my grandfather fully trusted him!” Caspian said. “He said that a holder of a Sky demon title should never be underestimated!”

“A Sky demon? This….” Victor acted a bit surprised, letting Caspian continue as he filled the latter’s cup again.

“Yeah, I was as shocked as you are now. At that time, the time to pick this millennium’s sky demons hadn’t arrived yet… Hell, it will not happen for another 2 or 3 years. So that guy could only be a 1000-year-old ancestor!” Caspian said in clear admiration. His tone here was very different from his usual haughty way he spoke. It was like a youth admiring his hero.

“Damn cool! Did he say which sky demon?” Victor asked. This SKY demon, did it have something to do with the MIDNIGHT, DUSK, and TWILIGHT guys he kept hearing about?

“No idea....” Caspian scratched his head. Back then, he was so overwhelmed that he forgot to ask.

“Then... Can you introduce me to him?” Victor asked, using a humble way of asking for the first time.

“Sure, once this is over, we will have a celebration party… You have to be prepared, though; he lives in the Deadend Ruin at the north pole, so the trip there is a bit tricky!!” he said. “Ah, right… Look at the time; we better finish this; it is almost dusk!” Caspian suddenly said as he emptied his fifth cup, making Victor look at the sky.

DAMN IT! The time in this place passed differently. It was really about to get dark…. He really wanted to ask more, but he was out of time.

“Right, letʼs finish this… But one last question… What do you know about this tournament’s organizer?” Victor asked as he slowly stood up, ignoring the ‘FORBIDDEN ACTION’ notifications that were going crazy all around him.

“Not a lot… Her name should never be uttered… She seemed to be the main contender for this world surveying seat. 1000 years ago, she used an underhanded method to delay the destiny dungeon until today before disappearing.” Caspain, not noticing the strange thing about Victor approaching him, said as he looked at the bottom of his cup, wishing there was more. “Everyone knows she must have plotted something back then, but with her setting the rules, we were forced to all play her game… “

“What is a world sovereign?”

“You must be kidding me; it is the lord who controls the world node in the…” Captain, as if finally feeling something wrong due to Victor’s question being so direct, paused. “You… How could you not know that… Who are you… Hey, what are you doing?” he asked in shock as he finally noticed that Victor was standing right over him, leaning at the table toward him.

“Just trying something…” Victor said as his lips were forcibly pushed into Caspian’s in a deep kiss!

Well, thatʼs what it seemed to anyone watching, but in truth, a lot of things happened in that instance.

First of all, Caspian tried to resist, but Victor activated his Demonic bloodline to its fullest extent, making Caspian freeze momentarily. This moment was enough for a long tentacle to emerge from Victor’s mouth and go directly into Caspian’s brain, dumping a little payload before continuing to break out of the latterʼs skull from the other side, splashing the gazebo with a new bright red coat of paint.

Stepping back to look at Caspian’s corpse, Victor quickly noticed that the game didn’t end.

Did it glitch or something? Well, that would be expected, as the game might not have had any rule for one of the opponents dying before anyone even made a move!

Thinking about it, Victor turned back to Caspian, then began to loot his corpse until the poor guy was left with ripped underwear. Why ripped? Victor had a rough idea, but didn’t care to dwell on it.

What mattered now was how to end this game.

He probably could wait until the time was over, but if he didn’t make a move, it would be his loss too anyway, so looking at the board, he just grabbed some random pawn and moved it one tile forward.

BEEEEEEEEEEP

ILLEGAL MOVE

YOU HAVE BEEN DISQUALIFIED!

***

“NO! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?” Silver, the patriarch of the Heavenly sect, stood from his seat, looking at the sky in shock.

It was an image of a dashing young man, giving Caspian a mouth kiss as the latter opened his eyes in shock! It made many people around the entire arena gasp in shock as they watched it.

Below the photo, there were two lines.

KEY NUMBER 381 LOSE

KEY NUMBER 439 LOSE [ERADICATED]

“Master…This…. They both lost…” a butler replied nervously, not knowing what to say.

“THEN WHY IS MY SON DEAD?” Silver hissed. Sure, in the first battle it felt very strange to see his son entangled with another copy of himself, but he didn’t care, as he knew the rules of the second round were going to be super strange. But his son dying like this….

“That guy might have broken some rules.”

”I CAN SEE THAT!” Silver spat. “Immediately notify the sect, tell them to activate the sarcophagus, then summon Caspian’s soul!” he added. Although Caspian might have lost his chance at the tournament, there were always ways to fix things up later if they act fast, so his son must return ASAP.

“Master… But the sarcophagus is occupied… That elder Mason from the Von Weise family rented it to heal his son’s dick in exchange for stealing his familyʼs blood awakening pill... Stopping it now might lead to....”

“FUCK MASON, HIS SON AND HIS DICK! IS THAT DAMN THING MORE IMPORTANT THAN MY SON!” Silver interrupted. Yelling in anger and alerting all the people on the balcony, who kept their eyes on their feet.

Only Serina, who sat to the side, smirked a bit, watching Silver with some Schadenfreude.

Suits that bastard Caspian right getting killed like a bitch… She never liked that prick in the first place.

Still, who was this Vic Volt guy who managed to kill him? What’s his deal with kissing people, and what about that jar at the table in the image… Wasn’t that the signature jar of the Ismeraliaʼs Royal Sun Elves’ wine? Isnʼt that thing the same kind Macil gifted her? What was it doing there?

Thinking about it, she couldn’t help but remember one name. Victor Von Weise…. No… impossible…That cockolded idiot was just like most of the powers here, another piece in some old player’s hand.